Armstrong, David Martin (1997) Education, training and unemployment in Northern Ireland : an empirical analysis of outcomes and policies. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This thesis contains four main analytical chapters. The first three examine some specific issues relating to the school-to-work transition in Northern Ireland. These are based on an econometric analysis of microeconomic survey data, containing work-history and family background information on a single cohort of young people aged 16-18. The main findings of these chapters are as follows: firstly, decisions about destinations post-16 are significantly influenced by factors relating to the school attended by the young people up to the age of 16. In particular, young people from schools which perform well, in terms of overall examination performance and attendance rates, are more likely to remain in full-time education, ceteris paribus. This can be interpreted in terms of aspects of ‘school culture' such as the attitudes and aspirations of pupils and teachers, which have received considerable attention in the educational literature. Secondly, psychometric tests which are used as part of the careers guidance process do not significantly affect young people’s experiences of unemployment post-16. Qualitative evidence suggests that this can be attributed to some aspects of test administration in Northern Ireland, such as blanket testing and feedback on test results, which in many cases fall short of recommended guidelines. Thirdly, the majority of young people in Northern Ireland who leave school at age 16 enter Further Education (FE) colleges or vocational training schemes such as the Youth Training Programme (YTP). The choice between these two activities does not significantly influence young people’s chances of gaining additional qualifications between the ages of 16 and 18. Rather, there are factors common to both, such as lack of entry level qualifications, which have a more significant influence.

The fourth analytical chapter examines the nature and extent of hidden unemployment amongst adult males in Northern Ireland. The analysis in this chapter is non-econometric and is based mainly on a descriptive analysis of data from the 1991 Census of Population and the Labour Force Survey. The research found that there are a large number of jobless people who can be considered to be unemployed, but who do not appear in official unemployment figures. The majority (around two thirds) of these are registered as long-term sick, and the remainder are on government employment or training programmes, or unemployed teenagers who are not eligible to claim benefits.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Unemployment -- Northern Ireland, School-to-work transition -- Northern Ireland, High school graduates -- Employment -- Northern Ireland, Continuing education -- Northern Ireland
Official Date:	December 1997
Dates:	Date Event December 1997 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Economics
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Arulampalam, Wiji
Sponsors:	Northern Ireland Economic Research Centre
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	vi, 240 leaves : illustrations, charts
Language:	eng

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